When Susan Martin's mother-in-law developed a heart problem in early March, she was rushed to Banner Estrella Medical Center in the Southwest Valley.

"She was in the ICU there in the heart center," said Martin. Her mother-in-law has since recovered and is home, and Martin is still praising the hospital. "I am just so impressed with everything from the nurses to the menu."

Banner Estrella Medical Center, a 214-bed-facility off Loop 101 just outside of Tolleson, recently celebrated its sixth anniversary with a milestone of serving more than 100,000 inpatients.

The state-of-the-art facility and its operations are a prototype for other Banner hospitals.

For example, the center opened with a fully electronic medical record and physician order entry system where doctors can key orders directly into the system. Associates and clinicians working at the bedside of patients have access to electronic medical records within reach.

The hospital has modern information and communication technologies, and the building is designed to have a highly technical environment, said Robert Gould, Banner Estrella CEO.

"We did not have to go through all the modifications that have to occur in an older building to get IT in. It was designed extremely well to take care of our patients and have that highly electronic and functional utility," he said.

For Martin, that meant she was able to use the hospital's wireless connection to go online on her laptop while her in-law was being treated, so she could keep up with her work.

Residents and businesses welcomed the facility in the Southwest Valley. In February, the center saw as many as 281 patients a day.

Growth projections for the area and the fact that there was no major health facility nearby at the time played a role in having the hospital located there, said Dina Steinberg, chief human resources officer at Banner Estrella. Banner, a major hospital company, does a needs-based assessment before selecting a location to open a hospital.

The Southwest Valley, which includes Avondale, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Buckeye and Tolleson had a collective population of about 250,000 in 2010 but is expected to grow by 217 percent from 163,693 in 2005 to about 519,052 in 2020, according to records from the Maricopa Association of Governments.

"Banner has a desire to be in areas that truly need the facilities," said Gould, adding that having them close to the freeways and interstates makes them easily accessible for patients and ambulances.

Although most funding came from Banner's operating funds and bonds, donations also were received from the medical community and residents and businesses in the area.

"This was mostly fields when this facility opened and now you look around and there are thousands of homes around here, so there was growth and there will continue to be growth. Hospitals do generate some community around them as well," Gould said.

Banner Estrella employs about 1,500 associates, about 850 medical staff (doctors and nurse practitioners) and has about 300 volunteers.

Steinberg said the center teams with local schools and colleges like Midwestern University in Glendale with students doing their clinical work and residencies at Banner Estrella. Some of them choose to stay with the center after school if there is an opening.

Banner Estrella has a high Medicaid population and self-paying or uninsured population, which affects the hospital's income, said Gould.

"Medicaid in particular is very challenging because they pay well below cost," he said.

The population of the area, according to Gould tends to be a lower-income demographic that has been especially challenged during the economic downturn. Relying on Medicaid and the state's health program for low-income residents is going to be more challenging as the state budget crisis affects those programs.

The not-for-profit medical center, however, is focused on being efficient. One example is its "Go-green" initiative. Gould said the center is already seeing some savings through recycling and has a team that is consistently looking how to reduce waste streams by recycling. In 2009, Banner Estrella saved nearly $1 million just by eliminating bottled water and installing reverse osmosis water systems.

The center also uses automatic light switches that turn off lights in unoccupied storage rooms and bathrooms, saving about $40,000 per year and reduced its budget by $230,000 from 2009 to 2010 by changing to third-party transport in natural gas.

"Being a non-profit hospital allows us to reinvest in patient care programs," Steinberg said. The hospital does not have shareholders, so it can reinvest in the facility rather than paying dividends.

Banner Estrella is a full-service facility with cardiovascular surgery and all general surgery, and has a large population of obstetrics and gynecology patients. The hospital does not have a pediatrics unit, nor does it perform neurosurgery.